On October 26 City of North Vancouver Council voted unanimously in favour of charging Seabus passengers a one-zone ($2.75) fare instead of two-zone ($4).

The idea stems from Translink’s bus fare reduction to one-zone across all of Vancouver because of the inept Compass Card system. Riders were forgetting to “tap out” upon exiting the bus and being charged for additional zones, forcing Translink to create a one-zone blanket bus fare.

It currently costs $2.75 to take a bus from Lonsdale Quay to Downtown, but $4 to take the Seabus across the inlet.

NV City Coun. Don Bell said the disparity in fare prices has led to a “deflection of ridership.” “So the request that the staff have suggested that a one-zone fare be adopted including the SeaBus makes sense.” Staff also noted that a reduced fare Seabus fare will attract more users and reduce bridge backlogs.

A formal request has yet to be sent to the Lords of Translink, but let’s assume they’ll screw this up too.